Who is my target market?
This is huge you need to determine who you will target with your product or service
What Is My Gameplan? A business plan is nice but market research and a well defined marketing plan is priceless.
3.
How Will I Execute?
Execution must be strategic as well as well researched
3.
How Will I deliver Value?
A uYou need a unique form of value or to show your customer or client how you solve their problem
Is There A Market For My Product?
If there has never been a product like yours before maybe there is a good reason. If your product is extremely innovative Market Research could prove priceless.
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race"
-Calvin Coolidge
When you are building your business a gameplan is a must. You do not however want to be the constant planner if you never take action you cannot hope to achieve what you truly want to.
Here are some ways to get started building your business today.
1. Target a Niche Or Sub Niche
2. Have a gameplan for how to monetize
3. Be Genuine
4. Lay out a marketing strategy
Layout a strategy and you will be on the way to achieving success.
You own a small business so you are trying to sell your products or service but how you appear different in a herd of other small businesses. Here are some ways you can show your true value to potential and future customers.
1. Free Content
Give free tips and advice in exchange for the opportunity to build customer loyalty.
2. Show Your Personality
You need to be real and be genuine peoples trust is vital to building your business.
3. Offer Special Prices or Package Products Together.
When it comes to implementing any kind of marketing in your small business, ask yourself this - "Will this activity impact my bottom line?"
Specifically what is your goal with any kind of marketing activity that you are trying to execute? It is so easy for us as online marketers to get wrapped up in search engine marketing, social media, SEO, among a whole host of activities that we are told we must do in order to live the dream.
But if you step back and reflect for a moment, do all these things actually help you and your business? Or are they just more of a distraction? Are they taking away from your actual business that you need to be working on? Are they nice to have but not necessary?
Okay, so take this as an example.
Search engine optimization. Ultimately, it is important to any business because this is a large part of how people finding you. Building backlinks will always be important, too. However if you want to avoid any future Google Slaps, Dances or whatever someone wants to call the next big algo change, then you'll want to future proof your site. Instead of putting all your focus and energy into building just backllinks put your focus into providing quality content. Real content that real people want, not crap that not even a search engine can understand.
Another example is social media. So many people are told they need these automation tools and software in order to get 10 million Twitter followers. That's great. That's nice but again is this just serving as a distraction?? Do you actually need this tool in order to do something?
I fell into the trap of buying and learning. It's a never ending cycle until one day you wake up and realize you havne't gotten anywhere. (And an empty bank account!).
The two concepts I just talked about are methods for achieving the same end goal - getting traffic to your website so people will buy your stuff. Bottom line.
Often times we get so caught up in the hype of online marketing that we lose sight of what actually matters. Earning money. If you're activites don't focus directly on you making sales, outsource it. You know your business better than anyone else. You can find people to do the $5 dollar problems that waste five hours of your time (Fiverr.com anyone?)
If you're really wanting to move your business to the next level, then do an 80/20 analysis Tim Ferriss style. If you do this, you may be amazed as to what you actually will discover. What items are part of your small business marketing matrix that are just resource hogs?
Matt Santi, guest poster, is on a crusade for becoming the most connected 26 year old in Seattle on Twitter. He integrates Seattle marketing to help businesses create repeat customers.
Find him here Twitter.Or at www.mattsanti.com
There comes a time in life when you need to realize they were right.
You are too poor or small or dumb. You don't have an Ivy league education.
Just be realistic just go get a job. Stop dreaming for no one ever got anywhere by daring to dream.
Lucky for us the world will still always have square pegs that understand you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
Even if you only have one arm.